[Patent document 1] JP-2005-302653 A
A vehicle such as an automotive has an input manipulation unit or apparatus for operating an in-vehicle electronic apparatus such as an air-conditioning apparatus, a car audio system, and a navigation apparatus; the input manipulation apparatus is arranged in an instrument panel of the compartment of the vehicle, for instance. Such an input manipulation apparatus has been recently multi-functionalized such that various instruction inputs are performed using the smaller number of manipulating devices. A typical configuration of the input manipulation apparatus has two types of manipulating devices. The first manipulating device is used for selecting or designating one of operation kinds (i.e., candidate control parameters) as a change target control parameter; in contrast, the second is used for executing a detailed setup of the designated change target control parameter. In such a configuration, the number of instruction inputs can be varied depending on the number of candidate control parameters of the first manipulating device for selecting the change target control parameter. The number of instruction inputs can be thus not less than the small number of manipulating devices.
However, the foregoing configuration of the input manipulation apparatus poses the following issues. That is, any instruction input for an intended control parameter cannot be made until the intended control parameter is selected among the candidate control parameters using the first manipulating device. That is, in order to execute an instruction input for a certain control parameter, two step manipulating actions are necessary. This involves a disadvantage in manipulation performance or manipulability.
Patent document 1 discloses an input manipulation apparatus needing the above two step manipulating actions. In particular, a dial manipulating device is provided to be arranged in a central bottom of a manipulation panel while having a dial knob (i.e., dial handle) for an in-vehicle air-conditioning apparatus, so as to enable not only a rotation manipulation (i.e., a rotation manipulating action) but also a tilt manipulation (i.e., a tilt manipulating action). The tilt manipulating action allows a control parameters selection with respect to air-conditioning to select one of control parameters that include a blowoff air temperature setup parameter, a blowoff air quantity setup parameter, and a blowoff air outlet setup parameter. The rotation manipulating action allows a specific adjustment to adjust a setup content (or to select one of setup specifics of the setup content) of the control parameter selected via the tilt manipulating action.
However, the foregoing input manipulation apparatus has an inconvenient feature due to the two steps manipulating actions. For example, the following exemplifies a case that an in-vehicle air-conditioning apparatus, which is presently in an OFF state, is caused to return into an ON state (i.e., drive state). With respect to a usual input manipulation apparatus for an in-vehicle air-conditioning apparatus, a setup button is independently arranged for serving as not only designating a blowoff air quantity but also canceling the OFF mode; thus, one time manipulating action or instruction input is only necessary for the air-conditioning apparatus to return into the drive state. In contrast, with respect to the input manipulation apparatus of Patent document 1, a tilt manipulating action is first necessary for selecting a control parameter of the blowoff air quantity before executing a dial manipulating action for returning into the drive state.
In addition, the input manipulation apparatus of Patent document 1 has a disadvantage of causing an operational mistake. That is, a usual in-vehicle air-conditioning apparatus has an automatic mode in which a predetermined automatic calculation is made for adjusting a blowoff air quantity or setup of a blowoff air outlet using a setup value of the blowoff air temperature or a detection result of an air-conditioning apparatus sensor. In such an automatic mode, if an instruction input is made for changing the blowoff air quantity or the setup of the blowoff air outlet during the automatic mode being selected, the selected automatic mode is then canceled; thereby, the mode returns to the manual mode. In the input manipulation apparatus of Patent document 1, in case that a control parameter other than the blowoff air temperature setup is maintained selected as the result of the previous tilt manipulating action while the automatic mode is being selected, any slightly angled rotation manipulating action, which may be made even mistakenly, results in causing the blowoff air quantity or the setup of the blowoff air outlet to undesirably change. In conjunction, the automatic mode is unintentionally canceled.